By Any Other Name
by Syri-LLC
Summary: AU. It's been nine months since that night on the Ghostly Plane, but not only has Piper shown no signs of being pregnant, but Chris's birthday passes, and he isn't even born! he's worried, panicky...until a newborn baby is found on the porch.
1. Chapter 1

Hello all! Now that I've finished I Love You, Too, I'm ready to start a new story! This idea has been floating around in my head for ages now, and I'm finally getting it down on paper! (or glass…whatever…)

ANYway, This takes place in season six, where the season finale would have been. It's a serious AU, people! Lol. OK; no one knows Chris's identity; he never told Phoebe at the end of LoSH. Piper and Leo still…um…got reacquainted on the Ghostly plane, but there where no…repercussions!

This chapter is a teaser, and therefor, REALLY short!

Anyway, I'm so excited to get started! And so, I present to you,

"By Any Other Name."

(I do not own Charmed. If I did, Chris would still be on, and so would I, and…um…let's just say the show wouldn't be rated TV14 anymore!)

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Chris was confused. No, confused wasn't the word…he'd been confused about five months ago. He was dumbfounded. No, that didn't quite sound right either. Perplexed, maybe? Yeah…that aws more like it.

Chris Halliwell was perplexed.

It just didn't make any sense! By all laws of biology, magic and time travel, he shouldn't be sitting in the back room of P3 right now. Hell, he shouldn't even be breathing!

How can someone not be conceived, yet still exist?

Well, he was pretty sure he hadn't been conceived…yet, he was quite positive that he HAD been! Oh God, was it too soon to take another dose of Advil?

"Aaaagh!" Chris groaned in frustration, flinging himself down onto the worn olive couch. His head was pounding (nothing new) his stomach was staging an uproar in response to how little he'd been eating (again, old news) and the knot of panic was coiling itself tighter and tighter in his belly. (And this is new because…?)

But this was…different. For the past nine years of his life, Chris had constantly been on the verge of a breakdown. Every waking moment was occupied with thoughts of his brother. Who was after him? Was Chris going to find him in time? Would things REALLY change?

But Gideon was dead now. Had been for two days now. Leo had made it slow and painful. So theoretically, Chris's anxiety should have died with that little bastard. But it hadn't.

In fact, it had intensified.

Because two days ago, the day Gideon had met his end, was Chris's birthday.

But he hadn't been born.

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Chris had started to know that something was up around May, what should have been three months into Pipers pregnancy. From his knowledge (albeit, it wasn't much) woman could typically know they where pregnant by three months. However, Piper, that same woman who'd been chronically ill throughout Wyatt's percolation, who'd been unable to fit into her jeans at four months, and who'd been crabby, cranky, and all-around grumpy with Wyatt, hadn't seem to change at all. She wasn't constantly running to the bathroom, wasn't snapping at people for no reason (except for Chris, whom she still wasn't very fond of)

In fact, if Chris hadn't known any better, he'd almost say that Piper wasn't even pregnant. Which was absurd, of course…because, if Piper wasn't pregnant, Chris wouldn't exist!

But four months came and went, and Piper was still wearing her favorite clothes, fitting snugly over her slim body.

By now, Chris was in his "confused" stage. How could a woman, who was most definitely pregnant, NOT be pregnant?

He'd bought himself ample time to stay in the past, saying that the only portal he knew of that went to the future only opened once a year, on New Years Eve. The sisters (and Leo especially) had been skeptical, but accepted his excuse. He HAD helped save Wyatt, after all.

And Chris used his extra time to his advantage. He visited over a dozen web pages on pregnancy, googled it, searched on Wikipedia. According to most sites, a woman might not show many signs of pregnancy, and could possibly not begin showing till her fifth month or later. He'd also read a befuddling story about a woman who'd given birth to an 8 pound girl, without even knowing she was pregnant.

Chris had taken all of this into account, as well as the possibility that Piper might be magically hiding the pregnancy from, her sisters. She was probably waiting for the right time to spring it on them, then they'd all go nuts choosing names and clothes and stocking up on food and diapers...

He just had to keep telling himself that.

After all, anything was better than the possibility that he didn't exist…

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But November arrived, cold and snapping, and Pipers closet remained what it was; a closet. There was no crib set up, no bassinet waiting to cradle a newborn. The cabinets in the kitchen was completely void of bottles and jars of mashed carrots. Pipers figure was as trim and petite as always, and Chris had tore several small chunks of his hair out in frustration.

"How can someone disappear, be conceived, reappear, yet not be born? How does that happen!" he cried out early one morning while pacing the attic. He'd taken to pacing lately. Nervous habbit. Paige said he looked like an expectant father. If Chris's adn't been this close to an anxiety attack, he would have laughed at the irony.

As far as he could tell, Piper wasn't hiding anything, including a growing fetus. She would have been shopping ages ago.

"Damn it! What the Hell is going on?" he dropped his weary body in the window seat, and drew his knees up, resting his fatigue-heavy head on them. He'd been wracking his brain for months, trying to figure this out, but nothing came to him. Hell, he had come right out and ASKED Piper if she was pregnant, but all he got for his efforts was Piper doubling over in laugher.

Groaning at the unfairness of it all, Chris ran a hand over his drooping eyes. He hadn't slept since his birthday, hadn't eaten since yesterday. And his body was punishing him for it.

He sat there, curled up on the cushion, and listened to the sound of his own breathing, the only noise in the usually bustling attic. The steady, constant shushing sound had a calming effect on his crazed mind, and he felt himself begin to drift off.

And he was almost asleep when he heard Piper scream.

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Piper Halliwell had awoke early that morning to start cleaning. Thanksgiving was in three days, and she was having her father over for the holiday. And anyway, she liked cleaning, as well as cooking. Both activities were simple, allowed her to think.

And boy, did she have a lot to think about. Namely, one neurotic Whitelighter.

He had been acting strange for months now. True, Chris had always been paranoid, slightly jumpy, sleep deprived. But lately, his Schizo behavior had increased tenfold. He always seemed to be distracted, as though something was worrying him...He could almost always be seen nursing a cup of coffee, though he never really ate much. And he didn't look so good either; too much stress, not enough food...Piper still held a grudge against the lying little twerp, but she couldn't help but worry. If he didn't pull it together, he was probably going to end up in a hospital from exhaustion. Maybe if we would...

But Pipers thoughts where (rudely, she thought) interrupted by a loud and urgent-sounding knock on the front door of the manor.

"Who the Hell comes visiting at.." She checked the kitchen clock. "Seven twenty on a Monday morning?" she said to herself. "Obviously must not be very sane"

Throwing her dust rag on the counter, Piper called out an "I'm coming!" to the knocker and headed for the foyer.

It was chilly out of the kitchen; definitely time to start the furnace.

Piper paused at the door long enough to check her apearance in the mirror. Not exactly Miss America, but she was presentable. Tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, she turned the knob and swung open the heavy mahogany door. To find...

Nobody. Not a soul.

Confused, she stepped out onto the porch, to get a better look around. But she had to thrash out her arms to grab the door, when she nearly tripped over a bundle left on the doorstep.

"What the Hell..." Piper muttered, as she bent down to get a closer look.

And her eyes got wide as coins.

And she screamed.

Because the bundle wasn't just a bundle.

It was a newborn baby, wrapped in a pale, blue blanket.

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told you it was short! But please, short or no, please review! They make me so happy! (And thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! It really was!)

I'll have the next chapter of TTRRH up in about a week, by the way!


	2. Chapter 2

Oh lord, I'm on an update high!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter one, I love reading what you have to say!

I don't have much more of an A/N here, so what do you say we just get on with the story, hmm?

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Piper stood there on the porch, half stooped over, seemingly frozen in time. She heard someone screaming for several long moments before realizing that it was Piper herself that was wailing

After finally gaining control over her vocal cords, she took a moment to catch her breath, panting slightly. He looked down at the squirming bundle apprehensively. She loved kids, she really did. She just wasn't sure how she felt about kids left on her doorstep.

"This is SO not happening," Piper tried to convince herself, though the thing that supposedly wasn't happening was literally staring her in the face.

The baby, wrapped in powder blue and nestled in a wicker basket, had awakened during her banshee impression. But instead of matching her screeching with it's own wails, it simply pried open it's pale little eyelids, peering at her with blue eyes; the color almost all babies are born with. It's drowsy gaze seemed to be asking "well, lady, aren't you gonna pick me up?"

Tucking her loose hair behind her ears, Piper crouched to take a better look at the young child.

He was newborn, just a couple days old. Could be a She, Piper reasoned, but the blue blankets and blue cap implied that it was a male child.

Timidly, almost as though she feared the infant would bite her, she reached out with both hands and gently lifted the little boy from his impromptu cradle. He was so small, even for a child no more than five days old. Instinctively cradling the baby against her chest, to shield it from the November cold, she rose to her feet, unable to keep her eyes of the boy. As she looked closer, she saw that his eyes were already beginning to change; they had a glimmer of green around the edges, making them startlingly bright.

"Piper? You OK?" Paige's voice called to the young witch. She turned in time to see her two sisters, each half awake and pajama-clad plop down the bottom step and into the living room.

"Yeah, Piper. What's with the sing...ing..." Phoebe's attempt at humor died on her tongue as she saw the squirming bundle and Piper's horror-stricken face.

Paige seemed to come back to reality first, rushing over to where her eldest sister stood in the doorway, and peered over her crossed arms.

"Oh my God, is that what I think it is?" she gawked.

Piper, still dumbstruck nodded.

"Uh-huh"

"And it was just lying on the porch?" Phoebe gaped in disbelief.

Another nod. Another "uh-huh"

"Where'd he come from?" Paige wondered aloud, rather awe-struck.

Piper, her wits frayed already, snapped "How the Hell should I know?" though she immediately regretted it.

"Hey hey!" Phoebe admonished her sister. "No swearing around the child missy!" she chuckled at Piper's face, then turned her attention back to the boy. "Now let me see the little bugger!"

Careful not to rattle the newborn to much, Piper carefully laid him into Phoebe's awaiting arms.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, rocking back and forth. "Just look at you handsome!" Looking back up at her sister's her demeanor turned serious. "I wonder who he belongs to?" she mused.

"I think you mean belonged, past-tense," Paige admitted aloud. "Doesn't really seem like his parents wanted him..." her voice trailed off as she realized the weight of what she'd said.

All three sisters were quiet, their attention fixed on the sleeping child in Phoebe's arms, each feeling pity for the poor thing.

Suddenly Phoebe's head snapped up, her eyes glittering with a ray of hope.

"Do you think Chris might know something?" she suggested. It made sense; Chris seemed to know everything about them; he claimed that they were studied in school as often as Washington and fractions.

The three shared a silent agreement, not needing to speak. Phoebe was about to holler for the little pest when he came into view on the stairs.

"Chris might know something about what?" he asked, having heard the end f their conversation. And Piper's unholy screeching.

"This," Phoebe stated, coming forward with the baby.

She was met with only a blank stare for an answer.

Paige caught the look, and filled him in, "Piper found him on the doorstep, in a basket..."

"And we thought you might know something about him," Piper finished, looking expectantly at her Whitelighter.

"About the baby?" Chris clarified, leaning against the foyer doorframe casually. He thought back to the stories his mother had told to him as a child. He recalled tales of heroic vanquishes, encounters with fairies, trolls, dragons, even, but no tale of an abandoned baby rang a bell. Shaking his head, his too-log hair swishing, he replied "No, nothing. Sorry."

"Are you sure you don't know anything?" Phoebe wheedled, adjusting the sleeping infant in her arms.

Chris just shrugged. "I don't remember any stories, any rumors, nothing about a baby. If it happened in my future, you probably just gave him to the cops or an orphanage or something." Seeing the desperate look on his families faces, he sighed.

"Well, was there a note, or a...a card?" Chris suggested, and Paige stuck her head out of the open door, peering into the basket. To her relief, a single white envelope lay un noticed at the bottom of the basket. Paige knelt to pick it up, and examined the back. On the solid white panel, the name "Halliwell" was scrawled in black ink, in a loopy cursive.

"Bingo!" she called, waving the thin envelope above her head.

Glad that he was in no more danger of being badgered to death by aunts and Mother, Chris wanted nothing else than to go continue his brooding in peace and quiet, but something stopped him from making the simple sojourn up the steps. His curiosity was nagging quietly in the back of his mind, wanting to know who the kid was. Maybe he DID know him from the future; he was likely to have been raised in San Francisco, so maybe Chris had run into him at school or something...

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Piper demanded. "Read it!"

"Geez, hold your horses woman!" Paige mumbled, slicing the paper open with one long painted fingernail. Reaching inside she found two pieces of paper. The first, hand written on note-book paper, appeared to be a letter. The second was smaller, thicker, on off-white aper. But it was completely blank, both sides.

"Well that's odd..." Phoebe commented, taking the small paper from her sister in her free hand. She too, flipped it over to examine both sides.

Piper, who by now as stressed, peeved and irritated, grabbed the letter from Paige and unfolded it.

"I just wanna get this over with," she explained, and apologized for her crabbiness. Her nerves, however, caused her hands to shake with such ferocity that she couldn't concentrate on the writting. So Paige slipped the latter back into her own grasp.

As her sisters gathered closer to hear, Chris stood a few feet away, lounging against the wall, all ears.

Paige held the letter a bit closer and began to read:

_Dearest Halliwell sisters, and most especially, Piper and Leo;_

_I can't even imagine, how much of a shock it was, to find our son lying on your porch this morning. And I apologize, for any stress it might have caused you. But we really had no choice, my boyfriend and I._

_As much as it pains me to say this_,_ we can not keep this child. It isn't a matter of not loving him, nor a matter of necessity; we are both willing, capable and ready to raise a family, but it just isn't possible._

_You see, I'm a witch, and was raised as such. My boyfriend is my Whitelighter of several years. Well, technically, he isn't a Whitelighter anymore. He clipped his own wings about a year ago, to live a normal life with me and raise a family._

_And normal is what we got. I long ago shunned my Wiccan heritage, wanting nothing more than to be a regular person. In fact, the day of our wedding I took a potion, stripping my powers. I've scorned them and reviled them since I was old enough to know better. _

_When I was far enough along, I had a doctors appointment, to find out if I'd be having a boy, or girl. We were hoping desperately for a boy; we assumed that only a girl could inherit any powers from me, seeing as my husband is now mortal. I would have loved a girl ,all the same, but there is no way, after all we've been through to have a normal life, that we could raise a magical child._

_But our son, the nice mortal son we had long awaited, was delivered four days ago in a cloud of orbs. Within hours, we were ducking as he made teddy bears and bottles soar across the room. And we made a decision; as much as we hated to, we could not raise this child._

_We could have stripped his powers, of course, as I had my own, but doing so do a newborn is dangerous, and could be fatal. And as much disappointment as it causes us to even look at him, we couldn't do that to him. We would have to wait at least a year, and we just couldn't bare that at all. _

_That's why we've come to you. We know who you are, like we know the legendary heroes in story books. If there is any place in the world were the boy would be safe, where he would be raised as the Gods intended, it is with you ._

_We also know, Piper and Leo, that you have a young boy yourselves. Which is why we ask of you two to be the ones' to raise our son as your own. We know that it is a radically unfair request, to just drop everything and take him in, but it's our only chance. _

_If you don't want him, please find a home for him, a magical one, were he'd be cared for._

_If you do take the boy in, then the piece of paper I've enclosed with this letter will take the appearance of a legal adoption certificate; the work of a spell, with credit to the Elders themselves. _

_We know how much this is to ask. But please, for his sake..._

_Much Love,_

_The Perry's, _

The letter wasn't signed with any first names. No return address on the envelope either.

Paige folded the letter back up with shaking hands. Looking up at the rooms other occupants, each wore almost identical expressions of shock, pity, even anger, in Piper's case.

The eldest Charmed one was gaping at the letter clasped in Paige's hand. Her mouth was agape, as though she wasn't able to find the words to describe her outrage.

"Oh my God!" she finally spat, reaching out and ripping the letter from her sister's slacken grasp. She scanned through ir hurriedly, as though trying to find were she'd ms heard Paige.

"How...how could two people be so selfish?" she demanded of the room, causing each girl to look uneasy, and making Chris startle as though he'd just been scolded.

Piper, however, didn't even seem to notice. "How could someone be so selfish to put their own petty wants before their own child!"

"Piper, calm down!" Chris begged, having really bad childhood deja vu at hos mother's ranting. He felt like he was four all over again!

"Calm down?" Piper demanded. "How can you not be disgusted by this?"

Breathing deeply to calm her already frayed nerves, Phoebe said, "He is disgusted Piper, we all are" she assured her, the other two both nodding in agreement.. "What those people did is wrong, but what are you gonna do? You can't keep the child."

"And why not?" Piper asked, her eyes drifting to the sleeping infant, swadled in blue flannel.

"Because, Piper, how would you be able to raise him, when you already have your hands full with Wyatt?" Phoebe wanted to know.

"Leo's back now, Pheebs. He'll help me, and you know he won't give the child away.

"But Piper, you can NOT keep this kid!" Chris tried to reason where her siste's failed.

Piper glared at the Whitelighter with dagger ridden eyes.. "OK, and what's your reason!"

Chris sighed inwardly. He knew Piper wasn't mad at anyone in particular right now; she as just acting on that whole maternal instinct thing.

"You can't, Piper, because you didn't."

"Come again?" Prompted Paige, as Piper and Phoebe exchanged looks.

"You can't keep this child, Piper, because you didn't keep him before," Chris calmly clarified. "If you had kept the kid, he'd be a Halliwell. And the only male Halliwell for years past and years to come is Wyatt," he partially lied. Wyatt was the FIRST male Halliwell, but there had been one other, of course.

"Well, how do you know the future isn't meant to change like this?" Piper reasoned, THIS CLOSE to blowing Future Boy into a thousand tiny bits.

"Why?" Chris begged the question, now getting thoroughly agitated. "Why would this change? Piper, listen; I know you want to keep him, Hell, you probably love him already. But it isn't meant to be!"

Piper's gaze darkened on the young man, and she took a threatening step towards him.

"You know what? You're right." Chris looked dumbfounded, until she added with bite, "I DO love him already. I know that you don't think I should, and I know my sister's don't thik I can, but I'm going to keep this child!" She shook the letter, still clenched in her fists, punctuating each word. And something caught Chris's eye...

"I mean, how would you feel if your parents just left you on a doorstep? How would you feel if you grew up knowing that not only did your parents not want you, but neither did the people you were left with? How could..."

But the rest of Piper's rambling was lost on Chris. His focus was on the letter.

It was folded into thirds, the folded flaps laying towards Chris. The writing took up the front, and half way down the back of the paper. But Chris was seeing the bottom flap, on the back of the Paper, where one single sentence was sloppily scrawled, as though as an after thought.

Paige had apparently missed it when she read the letter.

Piper hurriedly stopped her ramblings with an indignant "Hey!" as Chris reached out and snatched the paper right from her hand.

"Why you ungrateful little ba...are you OK?" she switched modes with a quickness as Chris's face seemed to drain of every dram of blood, leaving his face ashen. His eyes where saucer-round, and his jaw slack. His hands started shaking, almost convulsing.

"Chris?" Piper took a timid step forward. "Chris are you OK?"

His face was the very image of shock, and she thought she could here him whispering,

"No, God no. nonono..."

"Chris? Chris, please," she begged, laying a hand on his forearm. Startled he raised his focus away from whatever it was that was distressing him so, and looked at Piper as though he had never seen her before in his life.

And his pallor went from white to sickly yellow.

He opened his mouth slightly, as though ready to speak, but his body had other thoughts. His eyes rolling back into his head, Chris crumbled into a heap on the floor.

"Oh my God, Chris!" Piper screamed, all anger gone from her voice. Her and Paige rushed forward, rolling him onto his back, calling his name, trying to rouse him into consciousness.

All the while, Phoebe, still clasping the baby boy to her chest, stooped down to pick up the letter which had fallen and slid across the floor. She scanned the back, trying to find whatever it was that scared Chris SO badly...

And she found it, on the back. A postscript, one sentence long;

_P.S. His birth name is Chris, Christopher Perry. _

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Alrighty, there you go! Coming next chapter, we have a panic'd Chris, and Leo appears.

BUT ONLY if you review!

Lottsa love,

LLC


	3. Chapter 3

OK, usually when I update a story after a loooong wait, I beg people not to throw rotten fruit at me. Well, not this time, because I deserve it! I deserve to be pelted with black tomatoes! Just be sure to sure to write reviews n said tomatoes!

Yeah, it's been WAY too long since I've udated this story! I had writers block for ages and after all the great reviews (all 63 of them!) I didn't want to disappoint y'all.

And so, I present to you:

Chapter 3 of By Any Other Name.

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Piper had never really had any emotional attatchemtn to her whitelighter; at least, not that she'd admit. Sure, she cared for him, she tolerated his presense, but he'd never felt worried for him, not as she did now.

He was completely out, lying partially on his side. His face was sickly pale, contrating starkly with his dark hair. Piper didn't have to be a doctor to know that he was clearly not well at all. And that worried her, hell, even scared her!

"Chris? Chris, come on, you with us?" Paige called clearly, shaking his shoulder. The half breed gave no notice, though, and remained still.

"Maybe we should call Leo?" Paige suggested, looking up at her sister. Piper took one more look at Chris's thin form and answered,

"I think so. I don't know what's wrong, but he's been a complete wreck lately…" she trailed off, still studying Chris's clack face. "You orb him on the couch, I'll call for him. Phoebe?"

The middle Halliwell sister jumped at the sound of her name, startling her out of her thoughts. She's also been staring at Chris, but not for the same reason. Her mind was too busy trying to…to register…it couldn't be…

"W-what?" she answered, breaking her gaze away from the swirl of orbs that was now her Whitelighter and little sister.

"I want you to take the baby upstairs." she said, running a hand anxiously through her chestnut hair. "I want Leo to heal Chris before I introduce him to our mini-friend here."

Phoebe nodded, readjusting her hold on the slumbering infant. He too was sill, but in sleep, instead of illness. Walking past Piper without even seeing her, Phoebe carried the boy up the stairs, setting herself down in Wyatt's room on a rocking chair. She began gliding the rocker to and fro, more to calm her own nerves than the newborn's. Alone, more or less, she unfolded the letter she still clutched in her hand.

_His birth name is Chris. Christopher Perry_

There was just no way, no possible way! The boy he held in her arms could NOT be the same being as the young man downstairs. But…

But their names…Chris Perry…

Their lineage; male witches just were NOT common, by any means…

Chris was in his early twenties, so he'd have to be born soon…if that made any sense at all. And he knew SO much about them, about their home…knew which light switches had to be shaken to turn on, knew the trick to opening that drawer in the conservatory, knew their entire history…

This baby…he'd been abandoned, discarded, his parents didn't want him…if this really WAS Chris…did he know?

'he couldn't have,' Phoebe reasoned, 'not after seeing his reaction downstairs'…Good God, how does someone deal with something like that?

The focused her attention once more on the baby, his pink face still bearing that pinched look of a newborn.

"No wonder you turn out so neurotic," she told him quietly, though it failed to hold the humor she intended…

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"And he just fainted?" Leo confirmed, sitting on the coffee table next to the sofa on which Chris was laying.

"Yeah," Piper said, standing behind the couch. "We were just discussing he latest…activity…and he turned pale and collapsed." Sure, she left out one detail, but it wasn't anything relevant. No one ever lost consciousness from reading a letter.

Sighing, Leo placed the back of his hand against Chris's forehead briefly. "He doesn't feel warm," he reported, studying the still form. "He's been overworking himself like crazy lately. He's probably just exhausted."

"So, you aren't going to try to heal him?" questioned a rather puzzled Paige.

Leo shook his head slightly. "Exhaustion doesn't start out physically; it's mental more than anything. Just let him sleep for a while, and he'll be fine." He paused again, deep in thought. "I would think he'd have calmed down since we saved Wyatt; that's what he was so worried about, wasn't it?"

"Well, yeah," Piper mused aloud. "But maybe it's just now sinking in,, that everthing is going to be alright. He's spent over a year and a half sacrificing everything to save him…"

"Hass he ever talked about going home?" Leo asked the sisters curiously, almost…almost concerned.

"No," Piper replied, sinking down into an arm chair near the couch. "Now that I think about it, he's never really talked about going back. He's talked about the future itself, some, but he's never said a word about returning…"

They all fell silent for several moments, lost in their own thoughts and musings…until a squealing cry pierced the quiet, drawing all of them, especially Leo, back to reality.

"That's…That isn't…are you babysitting?" Leo guessed, his brow furrowed as the crying loudened.

Piper and Paige shifted uncomfortably, swapping guilty looks.

"Um," mumbled Paige, pursing her lips. "Not exactly…"

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"You found him WHERE?" Leo gaped, completely sideswiped, not able to take his eyes off the newborn boy.

The three sisters and Leo were all seaed in Wyatt's nursery (Wyatt being at Magic School for the day). Piper was now seated in the rocking chair the child in her arms, happily finishing a bottle.

"On the porch," Piper repeated again, a bit impatient now, as Leo had asked the same question 3 times in a row. "I heard a pounding, and when I opened the door…there he was, wrapped in a blanket."

"And you didn't see ANYone?" he clarified, running a hand through his graying hair anxiously.

"No, Leo. There was no one. They just left him," her last words, though calm, had distinct bitterness to them.

Leo just shook his head, sighed deeply, and looked skyward for a moment, as though expecting instructions to be paited on his son's ceiling. "I cannot believe this." He murmured. "This…this doesn't happen in real life! This is a Lifetime movie waiting to happen!"

"Well, it's about to turn primetime, Leo, because he wasn't the only thing I found on the steps. His parents left a note."

"Of course they did," he mumbled, mostly to himself. "What did it say?"

Piper readjusted the baby in her arms, laying him across her shoulder and gently patting his back. Sighing, she briefed him about the contents of the handwritten letter. Leo went from looking lost, to shocked, to downright outrage as he learned why a newborn had been uncaringly abandoned.

"You're forgetting something, Piper," Phoebe prompted gently. She had been unusually quiet the last several minutes.

"I didn't forget," Piper whispered, her hand wrapped gently behind the bys neck, suorting his head. She bit her lip, and tok several moments to choose her words.

"Leo, in the letter, they…they know about Wyatt, that we have a son, and they…want us…Leo, they asked us to raise the baby."

Leo said nothing for several moments, and his face was blank, impossible to read, but Piper could see the wheels a'turning, thinking…and she could also see that Leo never tok her eyes off the boy, who lay contentedly across Piper's shoulder, fed, burped and ready for a nap, probably.

"Oh no, Leo!" Paige's voice came up suddenly. "You can NOT be thinking what I think you're thinking, cause if you're thinking what I think you're thinking than I think you've lost it!"

"What are you babbling about?" Phoebe asked, confused.

The youngest sister sighed dramatically. "He's got that look in his eye, Pheebes! You know how much he loves kids! He's as bad as Piper!"

"I don't think it's bad to want to take in an abandoned baby, Paige," Leo spoke softly, coming forward towards Piper with his hand outstretched, wanting to hold him. Smiling Piper passed the drowsy infant over to Leo, who cradled him warmly in his arms, holding him close.

"He's right, Paige," Piper continued. "If we don't take him in, what will we do? Turn him over to social services?"

"Yes!" Paige proclaimed, happy that they'd finally gotten her thought process. "Listen, I worked in social services for years, and saw SO many kids like him find loving, happy homes!"

"And how many didn't, Paige?"

The rooms occupants jumped slightly; they'd almost forgotten Phoebe was still there, she'd been so quiet, keeping her opinions close.

"W-what?" aige prompted, caught off guard.

Phebe sighed, her eyes on the infant nestled against Leo's chest "How many kids DIDN'T find homes, Paige? How many grew up bouncing around in foster care, or in a state home?" she loked pointedly at her little sister, as did Piper and Leo, waiting for an answer.

Paige didn't respond, she just looked down at the floor; too many, of course. Too many had grown up without a place to call home…

"That's what I thought." Phoebe whispered evenly. "So why gamble his future by turning him over to the state when we can guarantee him a good upbringing with us?"

Paige looked up, then, from Phoebe, to Piper, to Leo and, finally, to the baby…he was sound asleep now, his dark hair curling faintly around his face, pale lids closed lightly over bright jade eyes.

Running a hand through her hair, she just shook her head an smiled forfeiting.

"I guess I'm outnumbered, aren't I?" she laughed lightly, though still anxious. "You two sure bout this?"

Piper looked up at Leo, somewhat questioningly. He looked back down at the newborn in his arms, and there was no question.

There never was.

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"_Happy mother's day Mommy!" two small, light eyed boys greeted in chorus as they catapulted themselves onto their parents king-size bed. The oldest, 6 years old, was blonde, dimpled and had the loudest voice. The smaller one was raven-haired with large, curious eyes, and had a more reserved demeanor._

_The woman in question, just jostled from sleep, blinked rapidly for several long moments, before smiling broadly at her two sons, her children. _

"_We b-brought you breakfast, Mommy," the brown haired boy announced eagerly, carrying a large box of Cheerios, which nearly overwhelmed the small 4 year old. Christopher. He stuttered slightly, but didn't seem to notice much. _

"_I can see that!" Piper laughed, sitting up with her two. Leo had woke up with his sons, and was downstairs, fixing he actual breakfast. But little Chris was completely sold on the idea of sharing his favorite food, cheerios, with his Mommy this morning. "Thank you so much, boys."_

_Wyatt smiled idely, showing off the three missing front teeth, while Chris grinned a bit more shyly around his fingers, which he still had the habit of sucking on when he got bashful._

"_Daddy's fixing p-pancakes for breakfast, but I though you m-m-might want an ap…apet-peri…"_

"_Appetizer?" Wyatt suggested, one arm around his brother's shoulders to keep the squirrelly toddler from tipping over the edge of the bed._

"_Yeah, that," Chris agreed solemnly, his jade eyes bright._

_Piper just laughed, pulling her two sons close, Her youngest snuggled on his lap, her first cuddling warmly at her side._

"_You boys know why I love mother's day so much?" Piper asked her children, who both shook their heads. "Because," she answered happily, "It reminds me of how blessed I am to have you both in my life. My two beautiful boys."_

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Chris woke startled, a cold sweat bathing his body. For several long moments, all he was aware of was his racing heart, the chilled moisture climbing to his torso and the chills that shook his too-thin body.

Chris felt as though he had lost his bearings, like a sailboat caught in a hurricane. That dream…it wasn't a bad dream; it was a great one, actually; one of the few happy moments he could recall from his childhood. Him, Wyatt, when he was still so good, and Mom…

…Mom…

Oh god!

Chris felt his head swirl dizzyingly as the day's events came crashing back to him. He couldn't breathe…

No, no…surely that had been part of his dream as well…yeah, that's why he was so panicky when he woke up…there was no way, just…NO way that he was…was…

Feeling light-headed again, he bent forward over the edge of the couch, putting his head between his knees. It helped, a little, though his vision was still ominously dark around the edges.

He stayed down for a few minutes, waiting for his pulse to return to a normal rate. He'd always had horrendously vivid nightmares, ever since he was little. All this stress was just getting to him, which was all…

And he'd nearly convinced himself that the news of his apparent abandonment on a porch was nothing more than misplaced tension, when his bent head caught sight of an envelope on the floor…one marked to the Halliwell Family….

And the chest-binding shock returned with vengeance, dragging the young witch down into dark, icy water, stealing the air from his lungs…

The letter…the baby…HIM!

Adreamadreamadream…it had to be a dream…had to be….because Chris couldn't accept that it wasn't…couldn't accept what that would mean.

His chest ached, burned as Chris went still longer without breathing. Natural instinct was gone, leaving him without even the most basic of functions; he wouldn't be surprised if his heart altogether quit on him at any second…

But one thought, one action came to him through the haze of oxygen deprivation; one more primal, more natural to Chris even than drawing breath…

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"You know, Leo, this little guy here is gonna need a name." Piper thought suddenly, halfway down the stairs with Leo just behind her. They'd put the slumbering child down to sleep in Wyatt's bassinette, which they'd dug out from the way back of the hall closet.

"I thought of that too. Do you think you should try for a "P" name, or continue to disregard centuries of Halliwell tradition?" Leo smirked lightly.

Piper snorted in soft laughter. "Well why not? We already disgraced the estrogen-ruled heritage with Wyatt; might as well keep on, dontcha think?"

The pair was headed towards the kitchen to grab a bite to eat for themselves, Paige and Phoebe. An Chris to, if he was awake yet. And speaking of which…

Piper stopped abruptly s they walked past the living room, a dark aura to the air. Leo nearly toppled forward at her unexpected pit stop, but regained balance, and followed her to the doorway. Peering through the threshold, her sinking feelings were confirmed, and a hundred more thoughts flew through her head, mingled and jumbling with the already filled space of babies, neglectful parents and names.

"Leo…" she said hesitantly, as though she wasn't sure the elder was looking in the same room as her. "D-do you see something wrong with this picture?"

Leo took a quick glance around the room, though it took him no more than a second to spot the cause of his ex's concern.

"Yeah," he replied, "Where's Chris?"

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And there it is! I really hope this chapter was up to scratch; 63 is an AWESOME number when talking about reviews, but it can be deadly if all 63 of those review writers rebel…ek!

ANYway, tad shorten than most of my chapters, but satisfying to finish! Up next: tortured!Chris, supportive!Phoebe, and exclaimation-point-abusing!LLC Yeah, I've been reading WAY too much limp!Sam. Blame the Supernatural fan fic writers.

ANYway, until next time! And remember reviews are like potatoe chips; you just can't have enough!

Lottsa love,

LLC


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